Nyman: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

Michael Nyman (Composer), Emile Belcourt (Performer), Sarah Leonard (Performer), Frederick Westcott (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Emile Belcourt, Sarah Leonard, Frederick Westcott
• Composer: Michael Nyman
• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: CBS / Sony
• ASIN: B0000026ON
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,943 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #43 in Music > Dance & DJ > Techno > Minimal Techno

Track Listings

1. Prologue. Neurology's favourite term - Michael Nyman

2. Traffic. Street sounds

3. (That's why) I'm here

4. Can I help?

5. And yet

6. You can see very clearly

7. What do you see now?

8. Where was his hat?

9. ...(mistake his) wife for a hat?

10. Bösendorfer!

11. Ich grolle nicht (Robert Schumann's Dichterlieder, Op. 48/7)

12. But what of the parietal regions?

13. What's the time?

14. What is this?... It's a square

15. What is this?... Six inches in length

16. Now, what is this?

17. Pawn to King 4

18. From our end, high up there

19. Your husband's a painter, I see

20. Ach! Tea from China, lovely fragrance

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are looking for a Contemporary Masterpiece..., December 22, 1998

By 

Alexis Paez "fenomenico62" (Caracas, Venezuela) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nyman: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Audio CD)

then "The Man..." is a good example for this. I feel that Nyman achieves an important level of dexterity handling minimalism techniques. He makes a beautiful chamber opera with very touching melodies and themes using few instruments and voices, resulting in a pure and crystal sound. If you have not begun with contemporary music I'd reccommend you to start with this recording. Also, if you are interested in psychology and how a guy can fit in the world living only through music, you will place this recording among your favorites.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars reubensandwich, January 25, 2009

By 

Jonathan Leiter "Reuben Sandwich" (Staten Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nyman: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Audio CD)

A modern msterpiece by one of Britain's most undersung composers. This is however, a one act opera, which is probably why it isn't produced more often.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Psychological Non-Starter, July 30, 2008

By 

James S. Eisenberg - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nyman: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Audio CD)

THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT is a disturbing, but by no means humorless true story about a well known musician and teacher who began displaying signs of Aphasia and various associative disorders. He eventually had to be institutionalized and passed away. The ultimate diagnosis was Alzheimer's Disease. Michael Nyman's minimalist score rattles on in a bland and attractive way and totally fails to come to grips with this dark tale. For once here is a subject that would be ideally suited to an operatic post serial expressionist language, but one only gets empty and repetitive musical patterns. (I suppose that a case for the patterns representing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder could be made.) Nyman makes a further mistake by upstaging himself with an extensive quote from Schumann's song "Ich Grolle Nicht" from DICHTERLIEBE. The Schumann melody totally outshines any of Nyman's inventions.
The sonic ambiance of the recording is odd. Although composed for a small chamber grouping, the vocal soloists seem to be having to struggle to make themselves heard. Was this intentional ? Sarah Leonard in particular, a past mistress of difficult modern works, seems to be having a hard time making the words "tell".
The packaging and libretto are very attractive.